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Who he is: President and CEO of Nanocomp Technologies Inc. in Concord, N.H., where he is moving carbon nanotube materials toward commercialization for applications such as vehicles, aerial vehicles and transmission lines.
Track record: “An awful lot of business development. … I have a marketing biz stamp on my forehead.” A 15-year career at Millipore Corp. and as president and CEO of Cambridge Research & Instrumentation, Antoinette co-founded Nanocomp Technologies with CTO David Lashmore in 2004.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in biology with minor in chemistry from Tusculum College.
Favorite accomplishment: “If there is one thing I’m most proud of, Nanocomp would be it. We saw an opportunity, picked it up and moved forward with the company, along with Dr. Lashmore.”
What makes him tick: “Take technologies and connect the dots to customers. It’s one of the things I do reasonably well. People at Millipore called me Mr. Blue Sky. It was something that rankled me at first, but now it makes me tick.”
Regrets: “I would have liked to do more in technical research.”
Whither nanotubes: “We have the opportunity of creating a platform — materials and products that have the same type of advantages that aluminum had when it was first introduced. The difference is, ours is like a fabric. It’s lighter and more conductive, a real 21st century material.”
Mentor: “A number of people, particularly at Millipore … they really taught me a lot about business and taking risks.”
Anti-mentor: “I saw someone at Millipore who basically got hung up on the trappings of a big company. He lost sight of the customer, stifled creativity and stifled growth. This person was exemplified by implementing named executive parking spots and executive washrooms. It was the antithesis of what we try to do in the tech sector, flattening the organization.”
Outside of work: “When you’re running a startup like this, there’s very little time. I like to play golf. It’s a good walk in the woods because I can’t hit it straight.”
On Peter Antoinette, from Bob Dean:
Robert C. Dean is an entrepreneur, professor emeritus at Dartmouth College, chairman of the board at Nanocomp and founder of Synergy Innovations Inc. He recruited Antoinette for his current role.
What makes Peter tick:
“Among all of the entrepreneurs I’ve dug up and put in place, he has more drive, more charisma, more sales ability than any I’ve seen. He immediately struck me as a good leader. He’s a big guy, tall, big smile, gregarious guy, and he has a lot of experience as an entrepreneur.”
If he chose to do something else, he would do …
“Less of the management stuff and more creative stuff for himself. Maybe he could be more of a free agent, finding inventors who have good ideas and then helping them to find markets and opportunities while adding something to the products too.”
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